The head of Quebec’s jail guard union says the Montreal police’s treatment of accused dismemberment murderer Luka Rocco Magnotta has been excessive and needlessly expensive.

Magnotta was transferred to an east-end Montreal detention centre earlier this week after his first court appearance in a simple white prison van, accompanied by a corrections SUV. The transport was in stark contrast to the dignitary-worthy police escort — multiple SUVs, motorcycles, and a squad car — that picked him up from a Montreal-area airport after he was extradited from Germany.

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“He’s not an international terrorist and he’s not a gangster with accomplices on the outside, we’re going to transport him by standard means,” Stephane Lemaire, head of the provincial jail guards’ union, said.

“It’s ridiculous the amount of money that was wasted to give the media a show…. To see that much security, it feels like we’re dealing with Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs.”

On Wednesday, the Montreal mayor’s office categorically denied a report from the CBC that the city paid $15,000 to help bring Magnotta back from Germany. The city said the extradition of Magnotta was not in their jurisdiction.

Magnotta is currently under “super protection” at the Rivière-des-Prairies Detention Centre, which means he has no contact with any of the other prisoners. Beyond that, he’ll receive no special treatment while in the jail.

“It’s horrible, the crime he did, but we do our work and we’re not afraid of him,” Lemaire said.

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Magnotta, the 29-year-old occasional porn actor and escort, is also under suicide watch.

Magnotta is due in court again Thursday via videolink and his lawyer, Pierre Panaccio, may ask for a psychiatric evaluation to be performed on his client.

If the request is granted, Magnotta would be sent to a psychiatric facility for no more than 30 days, after which a report would be filed.

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Magnotta, born Eric Clinton Newman, faces five charges, including the first-degree murder of Jun Lin, 33, and indignity to a human body.

Magnotta, who has pleaded not guilty, is also accused of harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and MPs, and publishing and mailing obscene material.

During his trial, which experts say could take up to two years, Magnotta is expected to continue to be housed in Rivière-des-Prairies Detention Centre.

Built in 1997, the Rivière-des-Prairies Detention Centre “shelters 600 prisoners in a warm and friendly environment which simultaneously incorporates principles of security, efficiency and respect for inmates,” according to Lemay Associes Montreal, the architecture firm behind the facility.